Japanese grocery stores and ingredient suppliers in Norway

This page is for food lovers and professional chefs in Norway that are looking for Japanese cooking supplies.

Japanese Cooking Supplies

Rice

Japanese rice grown in California or Italy is usually used in Japanese restaurants in Norway, very few use rice grown in Japan.

Soy sauce

Japanese brands of soy sauce are available at most supermarkets.

Miso

You can get miso at Asian grocery stores and high-end supermarkets.

Seafood

Although Norway has an abundance of seafood, salmon and lean tuna are the two most popular fish at sushi restaurants. Although other types of seafood have tended to be less popular, that seems to be changing over the last few years.

Alcohol

In Norway, any liquor with a higher alcohol content than beer can only be sold by a state-owned corporation. Due to the high liquor tax and limited sales time, some Japanese liquors like sake and shochu have been struggling.

On the other hand, Norway’s largest craft beer maker, Nøgne-Ø, started the first European sake brewery and since 2010 has been producing sake using rice from Hokkaido and melted snow from the mountains of Norway.

List of Japanese grocery stores and ingredient suppliers

Below is a list of Japanese food importers who wholesale to supermarkets and restaurants, as well as supermarkets that sell Japanese food to the general public.

This list consists of vendors frequently used by Japanese in your country. (Some shops carry not only Japanese cooking supplies but also kitchen ware)

Number of Local Japanese People

1,165 Japanese people live in Norway, as of 2018.

Number of Local Japanese Restaurants

According to TripAdvisor, as of 2020 there are about 200 Japanese restaurants in Oslo, and about 300 throughout the rest of Norway.

For Norwegian People Wanting to Study Japanese Cuisine in Japan

Do you want to study Japanese cuisine in Japan one day? Chefs Wonderland, an agency for helping foreign visitors study cooking in Japan, can make all your cooking school dreams come true.

There are two main ways to study Japanese cuisine in Japan.

One way is to enroll in a culinary school.

The other is to find work at a Japanese restaurant in Japan, although this is not very easy to do.

How Many Norwegian People are Living in Japan?

As of 2018, there are 474 Norwegian people living in Japan.

In addition, 22,569 Norwegian people visited to Japan in 2018.

Study Japanese Cuisine at a Culinary School

If you want to attend a Culinary Technical College for Japanese people, you need to be able to speak fluent Japanese, but even if you can’t speak Japanese, you can study Japanese cuisine at one of the following schools that offer English courses lasting anywhere from one day to three months.

There are classes for beginners, short-term intensive courses to get a certificate, and private classes for professional chefs.

Culinary Schools in Japan

Study Japanese Cuisine While Working

Under the current immigration laws, foreigners have very limited opportunities to work in restaurants in Japan, you would need a working holiday visa, a spouse visas, or a type of special activity visa issued only to a few people. If you want more information on studying Japanese cuisine while working in Japan,

please see the following article.

Working Holiday in Japan

Working holiday visas are issued to Norwegian nationals between the ages of 18 and 30. If you can get a Working Holiday Visa, you can enjoy vacationing and working in Japan for up to one year.

If you are thinking about going on a Working Holiday to Japan, please see the following article.
Japan Working Holiday Guide – 15,000 youth get working holiday visa every year

Would you like to know more?